Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 46.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 525 shares during the period. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $65,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,896,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,570,000 after buying an additional 104,253 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 86,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,309,000 after buying an additional 6,908 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,361,000 after buying an additional 30,309 shares in the last quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 60.7% in the 2nd quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 104,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,003,000 after acquiring an additional 39,518 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 37.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 48,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,856,000 after acquiring an additional 13,195 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FE. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $39.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $40.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.77. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.68%.

FirstEnergy Profile

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.